Broadband bills swizz
WHO gave broadband providers the right to charge a fortune for a service they know very well they cannot deliver?
It’s bad enough to suffer sluggish speeds that make it impossible to watch BBC iPlayer or email a photo to a friend. But to be billed £20 or £30 a month (or more) for the privilege is just insulting.
We’re being held to ransom by the telecoms giants, who are allowed to advertise speeds many homeowners cannot get.
BT, Virgin, Sky and the rest nearly always offer the same deals at the same prices, whether you live in London, Hampshire or the North York Moors.
They know some customers will get close to the typical 17 Mbps speed advertised — plenty fast enough for a modern home — while others will receive less than 1 Mbps and struggle to send an email.
And that’s if the internet even works at all. Yet providers don’t see fit to offer varying prices that reflect these huge differences.
These days, broadband is talked about as if it’s a utility. But can you imagine not knowing whether you’ll be able to cook dinner or run a bath from one day to the next?
Next year, new compensation rules will force broadband providers to cough up £8 for each day homeowners have no service. But the payouts, which won’t be backdated, will do nothing to help those who constantly face sluggish speeds.
No one should have to attach a mobile internet mast to their roof to get by. Yet that’s what Richard Bunning and Guy Cashmore — whose sorry tales we tell on page 38 — had to do in the face of abject service.
All the million forgotten homes with slow internet want is a decent speed at a fair price. In the world’s sixth biggest economy, is that so much to ask?
Time to fix
IF you’re among the seven in ten customers languishing on the standard energy tariffs at SSE or Scottish Gas, there really is no excuse. Unless you’re moving home soon and need the flexibility, locking into a fixed deal will almost certainly save you hun- dreds of pounds a year. If shopping around fills you with dread, just ring up your existing supplier and ask to be put on its cheapest deal. It’ll only take a few minutes once you’ve navigated those blasted automated menu options and checked the T&Cs. If you know of an easier way to make more money in such a short space of time, I’d love to hear it.
Meter beater
LET me know if you’ve received a letter from your energy supplier saying your electricity meter has ‘reached the end of its lifespan’.
EDF told one reader from Heathfield, East Sussex, that the replacement meter would have ‘the latest smart technology’ and provide ‘automatic meter readings and accurate bills’. Seems like a convenient excuse to push new digital meters on customers who wouldn’t otherwise sign up.
Talking of smart meters, Eon is still sending out misleading emails and letters about installing these devices. One sent to Samuel Burrell, 77, has big, bold letters saying: ‘Your electricity meter needs to be upgraded to our new self-reading smart meter.’ No hint in the letter of two key facts: 1) by law, having a smart meter is optional; and 2) firms must ensure only to offer a smart meter to all customers, not fit them in every home.
Fee fiasco
THANK you for sending in your examples of niggling fees for booking tickets online or on the phone.
Frances Tanous, from Storrington, West Sussex, says the Pavilion Theatre in Bournemouth has a new charge of £1.50 to order and pay for tickets over the telephone and collect them in person. Unjustifiable in my book.
Dave Walker had to pay the Ticket Factory a £2.45 ‘fulfilment fee’ for two tickets to attend the BBC Gardeners’ World Live Show at the NEC.
These sneaky practices get my goat because the name of the fee is usually meaningless: it’s just an excuse to charge you more when you’ve already committed to a purchase. Keep sending me examples and I’ll keep exposing the guilty firms.